Wednesday, February 21, 2007

ARRL DX

Anyone who's read my Radcom Contest column over the years will know that one of my favourite HF contests is the ARRL CW. It's a simple format. You just have to work the USA - and it's not difficult to work out when the band's going to be open in that direction! The operators are generally great and there's plenty of activity.

Last weekend saw the ARRL CW. I didn't have too much time to spend, but in a few minutes operating on Sunday, I quickly made about 50 QSOs. Propagation wasn't that great. On Sunday lunchtime, I checked 15m and all that was coming in was South Americans (PY/LU). I was surprised just before sunset though, to find a few east coast US stations around MD, VA, PA coming in, so snagged them quickly! No sign of anything on 10m, of course!